I was recently in China visiting a good friend of mine, and she told me to bring a piece of clothing I loved, because I could take it to the fabric market and have it made for me in SILK! Very exciting. So I did so, and I had three shirts made for me in beautiful silks for about 16 US dollars each. And while I was thrilled with my purchases, all I could think was, I have a sewing machine. I could do this. Right?

So I took a class at Spool Sewing, an adorable and expensive boutique fabric store downtown. I’d never had home economics class, my mother doesn’t sew, no one I know is into this, but I knew I wanted to do it. So I learned the basics of my very basic Brother sewing machine and got started. With the help of countless amazing blogs and the good people at Burda Style and many hours spent pouring over pattern instructions just to figure out what the hell they are saying, I’ve worked my way up to a novice level of sewing. I’ve still got a lot to learn, though.

My mother recently gave me box of fabric. It’s a group of wools and nylons and things, and they are all completely beautiful. It turns out that my grandmother, who recently passed away, brought those fabrics to this country from Iran, where she and her family had settled after leaving Russia. I’m not good enough to sew with these fabrics. Yet. But I will be.

So I thought I would publish my projects and struggles and complete failures and wild successes in the sewing world here, in this blog. I have two other blogs, www.embracethestruggle.blogspot.com, and www.stagedandreal.wordpress.com, which cover my other interests, but this new blog is just about sewing and crafting and taking the old and making it new again. Thanks for reading. Feel free to offer advice. I could use it.